How things change
It's been interesting getting back into using Linux after a couple decades away. I'd been using Windows primarily since my first PC in the early 90s, but the whole Copilot thing was the last straw for me. So I decided to try dual booting Windows 11 and Linux Mint.
I did have an advantage in that I was installing a Debian/Ubuntu variant on an Asus notebook. Their hardware diagnostic is a bootable USB drive running Xubuntu, so compatibility wasn't really going to be an issue. But I figured I would try using Mint and booting to Windows when I needed to.
What ended up happening is that I never ended up booting to Windows for the month I tried both. Everything I needed to use ran on Mint without issue. Granted, I was primarily using Firefox, running console emulators and MAME, and playing back media, so my needs are pretty basic.
What I didn't expect was to get more into learning how to use things like command line applications to interact with things. I want to eventually start refurbishing older notebooks and seeing what they are capable of without a fancy desktop interface. Something stripped down but still capable.
I've also starting checking out different repair options for different devices. Computers, phones, consoles and such. I guess I'm just getting past the "upgrade and recycle" process and trying to get the most out of older hardware. To really do that, I suppose I'll need to get over my anxiety over soldering. I had done it in the past but it's been quite a while. Though I suspect I'll probably pick it up again pretty quickly.
If I do anything interesting, I'll be posting it here with pics and such.